The opening ceremony of the Berlin Brandenburg Airport was slated to be held in the middle of 2012, and the entire aviation industry was excited about its opening.

The Brandenburg Airport

The Berlin Brandenburg Airport was initially supposed to replace both the Berlin Tegel Airport and the Berlin Schonefeld Airport, becoming the only commercial airport to serve people traveling in and out Berlin and the surrounding Brandenburg region. Later on, it was then decided that Berlin Schonefeld will continue to function as a terminal for low-cost carriers and the new Brandenburg will takeover Tegel as the capital's International Airport.

This plan for replacement was because the present airports that exist in Berlin were constructed during the Cold War era and were insufficient to cope with the present influx of passengers into Berlin. Furthermore, after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, there was a need for the capital of Germany to have an international airport.

However, the unpredictable event occurred. The opening of Germany's new airport was canceled at the last juncture, citing that there were "technical problems." The news certainly took the world by surprise as Germany was known for its state of the art engineering. Now in 2017, the Brandenburg Airport remains closed, with no news of any official opening dates of the airport.

What caused the halt in the opening?

The main technical problem that the Berlin Brandenburg Airport faced was the fact that a fire-protection system was faulty. Instead of hot air rising through the ceiling in the event of a fire, the smoke would be pushed underground that may affect the structure of the airport which was deemed hazardous.

Even though this could be solved after a major overhaul of the fire-protection system, other problems surrounding the design of the airport soon ensued. This included short escalators, overheated wires, and structural ceiling faults. This meant that in order to correct these flaws in architectural design, the construction had to be started from scratch.

Besides these problems, the entire project faced serious corruption allegations and the closure of major contractors companies that resulted in numerous legal lawsuits surrounding how the project was funded. Moreover, the airport was in the midst of a political struggle between the powers of two separate federal states in Germany.

Even if there weren't any of these problems, it is still questionable if Berlin Brandenburg will eventually become a major airport to serve its citizens and visitors. Many of Germany's long-haul travelers would rather enter and exit through Frankfurt's established and well-equipped airport instead of the poorer European capital, Berlin.

So the world continues to wait, as the unending saga of the opening of the Berlin Brandenburg Airport continues.
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